


Ghosts

by cloaked__schemer



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: a fire is mentioned but theres no detail at all, nah really this turned out much sadder than I thought it would, sad warning, small child crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3223691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloaked__schemer/pseuds/cloaked__schemer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even hears voices from Ienzo's room and finds the poor child talking to ghosts of his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, I wrote this a few months ago and planned on publishing it shortly after I wrote it, but I must have forgotten...And I found it while doing some filecleaning today and decided that I should finally post it. Enjoy your sadness.

It was night in Radiant Garden – the sky was dark, with bright stars glittering and glowing through the midnight blue expanse, looking like sparkles in black silk.

Even was asleep, having been forced to go to bed by Ansem the Wise. The scientist refused to believe the Master's theory that he could not continue doing experiments and writing down formulae until the early morning – of course he could! He'd done it multiple times before, and he was still standing tall, if a bit tired.

However, Even's sleep was interrupted by a very quiet noise; a _laugh_ to be precise. Who in the name of Light could be awake at this hour, making noise, especially noise that woke him? Then it ticked that the laugh could only have come from the next room over – from Ienzo's bedroom. Even sighed. Had the child taken yet another book to bed? Was he proud of himself for staying up until an ungodly hour reading, pleased that he'd managed to sneak the book past Even's watchful eyes?

“Honestly, Ienzo, this must stop,” Even muttered to himself as he threw the warm, comfortable blankets off himself and standing. He huffed at the sight of his tangled, pale blonde hair in the mirror across from him, and messily pulled it back in a black ribbon. It was pointless, considering all he was doing was going to Ienzo's bedroom, talking whatever book the boy had managed to sneak into his bedroom, and return to bed, but at the same time, one had to look somewhat presentable, no matter what the hour.

Even closed the door to his bedroom quietly, stopping as he turned to walk towards Ienzo's door when he heard the quietest little voice talking extremely happily. What had Ienzo talking like that? The boy never spoke in that tone – a tone that suited his size and age. The boy also rarely opened his mouth for anyone, and now he sounded like he was spurting 100 words a second.

A memory flashed in Even's mind; something from the year before.

 

\---

 

_A little boy with slate-coloured hair ran up to him, tugging on the hem of his white lab coat. Even huffed in annoyance; why did children always do that? Just because he wore the long coat,they all thought he was some kind of mad scientist! Preposterous, of course. Absolutely preposterous._

_“Excuse me, mister,” the little boy was polite when he spoke, but he sounded like he was positively buzzing in excitement, “do you work at the castle with Master Ansem?”_

_Even looked down at the child. Bright blue eyes shone at the scientist enthusiastically._

_“Yes. Yes, I do,” he sighed, deciding he'd indulge the boy, “I am one of Ansem the Wise's apprentices. I help in the laboratories, perform experiments. I assume you know what else.”_

_The little boy nodded, “Uh huh! My mama and papa are record keepers for Master Ansem; I've met him!” He said it like Even hadn't told him moments before that he worked alongside the Master and saw him daily, “he says I'm super smart too, and one day I'll be a good apprentice!”_

_Even raised a pale eyebrow at the child. Had Ansem been serious or had he said it to entertain the child's imagination? He didn't seem like he could do simple addition, let alone work with the complex equations that Even worked on every day, “Did he now?”_

_“Yeah! Master Ansem says that if you can tell apart the hypotenuse from the adjacent on a triangle when you're my age, you must be something special,” the boy smiled. Even was somewhat impressed. If the boy was the same age as he predicted – seven years old – and knew the things he claimed to, he assumed that maybe he did have potential._

_“Ienzo! Ienzo, stop harassing the poor man...” A fellow with short hair the same colour as the child's, matching blue eyes, and glasses on his nose, hurried towards Even and the boy who now had a name. Ienzo, “my apologies, sir. Ienzo is intent on becoming Master Ansem's next apprentice. It's his biggest dream.”_

_Even shook his head, waving a hand, “No need to apologise. However, I advise you watch your child much more closely. What if I had taken the child? Hmm? Good day, sir.”_

_Ienzo waved goodbye, smiling at Even as he walked away. His father took his hand, leading him away, “Ienzo, what have I told you about running off...”_

 

\---

 

Even sighed. Only a month after that encounter had a house fire started at Ienzo's home, killing his parents and leaving their only child an orphan. Ienzo had been brought to the castle days after the incident, staring at his feet, his hand in Master Ansem's, not responding to a word anyone said to him besides the occasional shrug, nod, or shake of his head. Slowly, he had began talking to Ansem and the other apprentices, but he was very quiet and did not say much. Now, however...he sounded like a regular child, happy and loud.

Even stepped towards the door to Ienzo's bedroom with those thoughts in his mind. Perhaps he was dreaming this up. And when he looked through the crack in the door he would wake up and wonder what he would've seen...

He would've preferred that over what he saw.

Sitting on his bed, talking animatedly, flailing his arms around like an idiot to show his point and looking like he had forgotten the grief he had been going through over the past year...was Ienzo.

In front of him stood two shimmering, semi-transparent figures. One of them was a man who was identical to the man who had fetched Ienzo when he had been questioning Even about being an apprentice the year before; the other, a woman with flowing black hair. Even threw a hand over his mouth to stop himself letting out a shocked gasp and revealing himself. Those were Ienzo's parents; Ienzo's parents were standing mere feet in front of their living child, who was describing an experiment they had done recently that had ended unpleasantly for Even.

“...then the _whole beaker_ exploded and Even got the solution _all_ over his face! And his hair was standing up; he looked like he had a Moogle stuck on his head!” Ienzo let out a high laugh, nearly falling off the end of his bed due to doubling over to clutch his stomach, “Dilan told me I needed to be more sensible, but I couldn't stop laughing! It was so funny!”

Even rolled his eyes at the child; honestly, it wasn't _that_ funny, and the solution could have harmed him! It didn't, but it could have.

But on more pressing matters, how in the world were Ienzo's parents standing there, listening to Ienzo yabber on about the experiments the apprentices performed? It was impossible! They couldn't possibly be ghosts; ghosts did not exist...Even wracked his brain, thinking for something that would explain the strange phenomena, before he realised something...

Were Ienzo's eyes giving off a slight blue glow? The same glow that surrounded his parents? Could Ienzo be creating the image himself? Even decided that the only explanation was that the little boy had the power to turn images in his mind into something real. A powerful illusion.

“Hey, mama...papa...can you stay? Please?” Ienzo asked quietly, looking back up at the illusions of his parents, “I don't want you to go away again...that fire was really scary; I thought you were gonna be gone forever.”

Even sighed quietly, watching as Ienzo rubbed his eyes sleepily and got off the bed, walking over to the illusions of his mother and father. As he approached, they began to waver slightly, before disappearing completely. Ienzo looked at the places they had been with one visible wide, watery eye, before he started to sniffle.

“M...mama?” He whispered weakly, his tiny voice laced with a desperate tone, “P-papa...? Where'd you go?”

That was when the floodgates opened. Ienzo let out the quietest sob Even had ever heard from a child, and more followed, stringing together into the saddest song that the scientist's ears had ever picked up. The little boy wandered back to his bed eventually, climbing in and curling up, but still cried into the warm blanket, hugging it tightly to his tiny chest as he tried to pull himself together. Even's gut twisted painfully; he didn't often show sympathy for others, but Ienzo's sobs pulled at him, making his heart pang. He wanted to go in and comfort the child, but knew that letting Ienzo knew he had just watched the events might make him feel worse.

With another shaky sigh, Even stepped away from the door. He could still hear Ienzo's tiny sobs, as he returned to bed and lay down, shutting his eyes only when the cries died down and slowly stopped, signaling that the boy had finally fallen asleep. Feeling guilty for not attempting to help the child, Even feel asleep once more, hoping he would forget about the whole event by the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry


End file.
